Discussion 2025: AFL SC - Rate My Team

[Herbie66]

Just calling it out, but even 60%+ CBAs for Rankine doesn't necessarily mean he is impacting their forward structure. The plan could be for him to start in the middle for CBAs and then push forward - partly to help with clearances but also to try and create defensive confusion in the handover, either allowing him to get free or to have a mid minding him.
CBAs are one good stat, but they don't always tell the full story around what a players role is, so wouldn't recommend using those a determining factor alone.

Rankine offers them the quickness and differential in the mid setup so totally agree that he will start then move forward (ANB then takes the defensive role similar to what he did for Petracca and how Lambert played for Dusty)

Their forward targets take their marks they may not need Rankine + the others crumbling in any case.

I place zero emphasis on CBA

8 players in their , 2-3 might only touch the ball on occasions so the other 5-6 are redundant in any case

Be interesting with Perryman , probably will attend the most CBA's attendance for Collingwood over the season , doubt he is in the Top 4 on SC average for Collingwood

 

[BIGB0Y]

F

Thought when he was at the Swans that's where his best scores come from 🤔

So where do they all fit :-

Crouch , Dawson , Rankine in the centre square
Cumming & Sholl on the wing

4 pronged forward line
+ ANB doing the grunt

Leaves one onfield spot for Peatling/Rachele/Soligo

Forgot all about Keays

They actually have to many "real" options even given the flexibility of the modern game

Don't believe you need speed on the wing any more

Transition out of D50 correctly very easy to bypass the wing altogether

From what I gathered watching the game on the weekend Crouch and Dawson will spend the most time in the midfield, I don't rate Crouch at all and think his taking away talent from the team. Soligo, Rankine, Peatling will rotate fwd/mid with them pushing up to stoppages. More so Peatling pushing up to stoppages I don't really rate him as a fwd.

 

[BIGB0Y]

Thought when he was at the Swans that's where his best scores come from 🤔

So where do they all fit :-

Crouch , Dawson , Rankine in the centre square
Cumming & Sholl on the wing

4 pronged forward line
+ ANB doing the grunt

Leaves one onfield spot for Peatling/Rachele/Soligo

Forgot all about Keays

They actually have to many "real" options even given the flexibility of the modern game

Don't believe you need speed on the wing any more

Transition out of D50 correctly very easy to bypass the wing altogether

Apart from gulden who is a freak, wingers don't get plenty of the ball for effort, 10-15 possessions a game. They need a massive tank running up and down all game. Dawson is such a good creative player with damaging foot skills and big bodied. I would be shocked if he got wasted on a wing.

 

[Shannon]

F

From what I gathered watching the game on the weekend Crouch and Dawson will spend the most time in the midfield, I don't rate Crouch at all and think his taking away talent from the team. Soligo, Rankine, Peatling will rotate fwd/mid with them pushing up to stoppages. More so Peatling pushing up to stoppages I don't really rate him as a fwd.

I don't understand why Nicks keeps persisting with Crouch - he should be just depth/backup at this stage of his career. For mine, the crows would be much more dynamic in midfield with Sid Draper in there - kid has speed, explodes out of contests & uses it well. Having him, Rankine & Soligo rotating through there with Dawson providing the silk/ class along with Peatling playing as the defensive mid would make a really good midfield combination.

 

[Herbie66]

F

From what I gathered watching the game on the weekend Crouch and Dawson will spend the most time in the midfield, I don't rate Crouch at all and think his taking away talent from the team. Soligo, Rankine, Peatling will rotate fwd/mid with them pushing up to stoppages. More so Peatling pushing up to stoppages I don't really rate him as a fwd.

Crouch's main value is actually getting the ball and distributing it , problem was when they had he , Keays & Laird all in their together and none of them can kick it accurately more than 25-30 metres.

Milera years ago added a new dimension.

Soligo last season had a really nice 5-6 game period.

Rankine again adds to the mix

I guess unless a team gets a clear clearance from the centre bounce it doesn't really matter.

Force a stoppage and next minute we have 15-20 around the ball

6-6-6 should stay in place until the ball is actually out of the centre square

Think they will be rotating extremely heavily to change it up and offer variety

 

[Herbie66]

Apart from gulden who is a freak, wingers don't get plenty of the ball for effort, 10-15 possessions a game. They need a massive tank running up and down all game. Dawson is such a good creative player with damaging foot skills and big bodied. I would be shocked if he got wasted on a wing.

This is where teams need to be smarter and adapt to the modern game

Transition correctly out of the D50 and you can actually bypass the winger altogether.

Allow the winger (s) to just run between the arcs instead , defensive zone setup means the defensive winger is setting up in defence to much in any case.

One day the old "traditional" positions will be gone and we will think of things in zones

D50 , mid zone , F50

Watched a few Freo games last season and all Sharp did was run up and down and rarely got used

I would have Dawson (or Milera) in space , give them time and space to actually utilise their kicking skills into F50.

Crouch - > ? - > Dawson/Milera

Similar to how Clarko used Sam Mitchell , stay between the arcs and give the ball to ? then Birchall , Hodge , Lewis , Smith etc etc

Then it becomes tag the source or tag the outlet.

Going to be interesting how they set up and rotate , I actually think they have one to many if everyone is fit and available

 

[BIGB0Y]

I don't understand why Nicks keeps persisting with Crouch - he should be just depth/backup at this stage of his career. For mine, the crows would be much more dynamic in midfield with Sid Draper in there - kid has speed, explodes out of contests & uses it well. Having him, Rankine & Soligo rotating through there with Dawson providing the silk/ class along with Peatling playing as the defensive mid would make a really good midfield combination.

Couldn't agree with you more.

 

[Post Nut Clarity]

Here’s how my teams looking currently…

really warming to this structure as I feel like it gives me the best chance of capitalising on the rookies with the best on field scoring potential while also allowing me to bat deep in the back and forward lines where rookies seem to be dropping like flies!

Would love any thoughts/feedback given this side is a massive shakeup for me and appears to be a bit different structurally than a lot of ones I’ve seen!

 

[T43597]

Here’s how my teams looking currently…

really warming to this structure as I feel like it gives me the best chance of capitalising on the rookies with the best on field scoring potential while also allowing me to bat deep in the back and forward lines where rookies seem to be dropping like flies!

Would love any thoughts/feedback given this side is a massive shakeup for me and appears to be a bit different structurally than a lot of ones I’ve seen!

View attachment 84078

A bit structurally different but pretty cookie cutter in terms of selections - nothing wrong with that though. That midfield looks pretty well balanced and so does the rest of your side. You may need to invest a little more in bench rookies though. Im expecting you will get enough cheap rookies to play come round 1 but id probably like to see just a little more in bench value just incase there arent enough cheap rookies or they fail and you need to sideways trade them. That said, im not sure where you would find the money. Nice team overall though